Potential UMass football upgrade comes with many risks and benefits

Republican File PhotoUMass junior linebacker Tyler Holmes was named to the FCS All-American team and said that a move to the FBS would be bittersweet.

UMass Football's FBS Upgrade

Editor's note: This is part of an ongoing series exploring the UMass football program's potential upgrade to the FBS.MassLive.com editorial interns Alyssa Creamer and Tom King will be contributing writers throughout the series.

UMass Links

Fans of the University of Massachuetts football team curious about the progam’s future have needed to be patient --- very patient.

Until recently, when Chancellor Robert Holub suggested the University would likely announce its decision in early March, members of the administration and athletic department suggested key players in the decision-making process remained uncertain, weighing out the pros and cons of an upgrade to the Bowl Subdivision (FBS).

Within the last few months, the school has taken a “mum’s the word” policy while speculation about the potential risks in making a move up as a football-only member in the Mid-American Conference continued to circulate among the football community.

Several news organizations opined that the prospects of upgrading have never looked more positive.

Ron Chimelis, of The Republican, reported in December that Athletic Director John McCutcheon had suggested that the upgrade’s estimated income would support the costs of the move. By staying put in the Colonial Athletic Association, the UMass football program reportedly loses $3 million annually.

"From all we have looked at, the program [expansion] would be self-supporting in that way, given the new revenue streams we would be generating,'' McCutcheon told Chimelis.

One potential revenue stream could come from playing one or two “guarantee games” each season against top-tier FBS schools. Schools like Texas, Ohio State, and Michigan, among others, are willing to ultimately pay lesser football programs for a home game and a likely win. In 2009, Ohio State paid Navy $1.4 million to travel to Columbus for a non-conference game.

In the past few seasons, UMass has received money to play Boston College, Kansas State, and Texas Tech. This past season, Michigan paid UMass $550,000 for a game; however, FBS-schools generally receive higher paydays than their FCS counterparts for such guarantee games.

"I think $1 million is going to be the market price in the coming years," Ohio State athletics director Gene Smith told USA Today.

‘A Case for FCS: The Benefits of Sponsoring FCS Football,’ noted that of the 19 programs to move from the FCS to the FBS since 1987, only five have won more than 54 percent of their games since reclassification.

Furthermore, finding and generating new revenue streams is essential if UMass plans on upgrading to the FBS because it is unlikely the University can secure an increase in state funding. If no state funding is forthcoming, UMass will have to be creative in addressing concerns surrounding its athletic facilities.

UMass’ McGuirk Stadium, seats just 17,000, while FBS participation requires its schools to average a home attendance of at least 15,000 once in a rolling two-year period, according to the NCAA.

Last season, UMass averaged 13,005 fans to each home game. An upgrade to the FBS may generate enough buzz to reach the minimum attendance requirements without upgrading McGuirk Stadium. On the other hand, according to the NCAA, the MAC ranked last in the FBS in conference attendance in 2010. Of the 13 football teams in the conference, five of them fell below the 15,000 attendance mark.

Critics of the move are wary of the cost of upgrading McGuirk Stadium or building a new stadium altogether, though they are aware that UMass would have trouble recruiting FBS-caliber players to play within an FCS stadium.

However, the option of the Minutemen joining the FBS and playing their home games, or, at least a portion of them, at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass., home of the New England Patriots, does not seem out of the question.

Though this option would create travel issues for fans in the western part of the state, it would take away the urgency of building a new stadium and dramatically increase the exposure of the team. Such an increase may significantly increase donations from alumni and philanthropists.

Then, there is the branding aspect. Since the MAC has a television deal with ESPN, the Minutemen would likely receive additional coverage and exposure. UMass merchandise would, in all likelihood, be sold at Gillette and other places across the state and region.

"We don't think there is a better atmosphere for football in New England than Gillette Stadium, and we hope the venue heightens interest in the game and in college football in this region," said Patriots Owner Robert Kraft about last season’s Colonial Clash game in a University release.

Many of those singing about the benefits of moving up feel branding the Minutemen within a better league and pitting the team against bigger-name schools will give alumni incentive to attend home games and offer support.

“For me, the move would be kind of bittersweet,” said UMass junior and All-American linebacker Tyler Holmes. “I’m very happy to see the school taking an interest in the program. I think it would be beneficial to play there as far as media attention goes, but it might be harder for students to make it to games.

“So [we] might not have as much student support, but [we’d] probably have more alumni support.”

An ancillary benefit to the move would be additional funding to underfunded women’s sports caused by the scholarship increase from 63 to 85. Title IX gender equity law provides that scholarships for women’s sports must rise or funding for those women’s sports still left unfunded must occur in conjunction with such an increase.

More available scholarships and the prestige and hype surrounding an FBS-ranked UMass football team would help attract the kind of talent UMass would need to continue competing seriously at the FBS-level.

“Overall, just being in Division 1 [FBS] makes kids more attracted to the school,” said Holmes.

On the other side of the coin, however, the CAA could be facing dramatic changes – even collapse.

In the past couple years, the conference has lost Northeastern and Hofstra, replacing their slots with southern teams - Georgia State and Old Dominion University - and altering the CAA’s geographic concentration for 2011.

Meanwhile, CAA rival Villanova seems poised to climb into the FBS as soon as 2014. If Villanova were to leave the CAA for the Big East, other CAA teams may follow suit within the decade.